Greeting and Handshaking When Entering a Gathering
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Praise be to Allah. He says: If I enter a gathering and greet the attendees with a handshake, O Shaykh, is this permissible in the Shari'ah?
The Shaykh:
If you are coming from a journey, that is what is prescribed. However, if you are in the city, it is sufficient to offer the salam to them. If you shake hands with them, there is no harm in that. Yes.
The presenter:
Shaykh Salih, we ask about this topic frequently, especially when there are elderly people present. Some of them take time and go around to these people, which may interrupt their conversation and so on.
The Shaykh:
No, if they are in conversation or busy, do not interrupt their work or conversation. Offer the salam and sit down, or sit down without offering the salam until their conversation ends, or if they are reading, then greet them after the conversation or reading is finished. Yes.
Praise be to Allah. He says: If I enter a gathering and greet the attendees with a handshake, O Shaykh, is this permissible in the Shari'ah?
The Shaykh:
If you are coming from a journey, that is what is prescribed. However, if you are in the city, it is sufficient to offer the salam to them. If you shake hands with them, there is no harm in that. Yes.
The presenter:
Shaykh Salih, we ask about this topic frequently, especially when there are elderly people present. Some of them take time and go around to these people, which may interrupt their conversation and so on.
The Shaykh:
No, if they are in conversation or busy, do not interrupt their work or conversation. Offer the salam and sit down, or sit down without offering the salam until their conversation ends, or if they are reading, then greet them after the conversation or reading is finished. Yes.
Source
قناة «مكة و المدينة»، 03 فتاوى على الهواء - 03 02 1433هـ _ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (36:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.